In collaboration with LondonOn, an urban plan to reimagine Bergen’s last industrial district.Extra-LargeNorwayPlayUrbanWork

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Laksevåg is Bergen’s last industrial district, a neighbourhood where the old shipbuilding industry is still evident in the warehouses, docks and workers’ housing.

Under the radar for many years due to its location on the shady side of the fjord, across the water from Bergen city centre, it has become a thriving cultural centre with accordable practice, performance and studio space.

In 2020, LondonOn – a collaborative group including Haptic, Morris+Company, TurnerWorks, Gort Scott, Elliott Wood and Urban Systems Design – won, with the assistance of Vill, a competition to reimagine the Indre district of Laksevåg.

Our project is grounded in an appreciation of the communities that already use the site – a robust mix of heavy industry, social amenities, offices and cheap rental space.

With a mantra of Re-use/Re-inforce/Re-vitalise, we aim to use as many of the existing structures as possible to create two new public spaces, each with their own character.

We want to set the scene for natural growth, with a broad spectrum of activity to flourish simultaneously.

We documented and appraised all buildings on the site for their potential for re-use. Our aim was to use as many of the existing structures as possible, and with them their embodied carbon, as well as retaining the historic industrial character of the old docklands.

Rather than proposing an all-new bridge across the harbour, we instead borrowed the embodied energy of an existing 1950s concrete viaduct, hanging a pedestrian bridge below it.

We also carried out rigorous analysis of the site’s natural assets, identifying those that could be preserved – for example, a car park with particularly good sun conditions that could be reborn as a public square.